Herpes or mole?

[q1w2e3r4t5]

Dr. Rockoff,
    On Sunday night I noticed a slightly elevated bump on my upper left buttock. Maybe slighly itchy?  Maybe irritated by a clothes tag?  Not sure.  When I first looked at it, it looked like a mole and at the time I felt pretty sure that I had seen it there before. I've been worried a lot about herpes lately because of a couple of incidents in the last 2 months, but I'm told that neither were any risk for herpes but I still worry. (I won't bother going into detail about them because I'm sure you wouldn't consider them risks.) Anyway, in part because of my worries, I did squeeze and scrape the thing a little, and touched it a lot to look at it over the next few days and I now don't know if that has caused it to look like it does now OR if it would have progressed to this appearance on its own.
    No prodrome or pain, but maybe a slight burning feeling (still), but that was after I started to touch it, etc., so... There were never any blisters, though the surface looked a little moist after I had manipulated it a little with my fingernail. It was just the single mole-sized circular spot - there was no cluster of spots or blisters. Can herpes be a solitary spot?  I've read conflicting things.
    I looked at pictures of herpes on the buttocks on the web and it didn't look like them at all. But when I read about herpes symptoms, it says that it rarely manifests itself like the textbook photos(?!)  But now, 5 days after I first noticed it, it seems it does look more like the herpes photos to me - it looks like a scab now. I'm so confused.  If I could be sure it was there as a mole before it obviously wouldn't matter what it looked like now, but I simply can't remember for sure.  These are some photos:URL=http://good-times.webshots.com/album/555993346DFmecW][IMG]http://thumb11.webshots.net/t/57/757/7/11/14/2637711140099645331RZVqjk_th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]Hopefully you can get some idea of the size and location from the wide shot and my finger in one of the photos.

    Does this look like herpes to you?  Or does it look more like it could have been a mole that has been irritated by touching, etc.?  I haven't put anything on it for fear that it would mask its appearance.  Is there any way for me to tell if this is a mole or not by myself, now, without expensive biopsies, etc.? (No insurance). Is there any way for you to tell definitively from the photos?   Please help.  Thank you.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

I wasn't able to access your photos.  However, your description is so obviously not of herpes that I think the help you need is with your excessive anxiety, not with STD's.  Please leave the spot alone for 2 weeks.  If you're still worried, spring for one visit to a doctor for reassurance, which is all it would take.  Then get the help you really need.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff

[q1w2e3r4t5]

Sorry, the photopage url wrong.  This should work:http://good-times.webshots.com/album/555993346DFmecW

[q1w2e3r4t5]

Just in case that doesn't work please try this too:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2637711140099645331RZVqjk][img=http://thumb11.webshots.net/t/57/757/7/11/14/2637711140099645331RZVqjk_th.jpg][/url]
Thank you.

[q1w2e3r4t5]

Dr. Rockoff,
   I'm sorry to post again but now I'm in an extreme panic.  I pulled off the scab that was left today and it doesn't look like there is a mole underneath where I pulled it off.  There's a crater where I pulled the scab off and MAYBE what looks like a ring of slightly darker skin around the crater.  But it's not as dark as I would expect a mole to be or as dark as it looked when I first noticed it. Could I have kind of faded or altered the color of the mole by what I've done? I really thought that I had a mole there and now I'm really panicked.  I can't even see a doctor until Monday and even then I don't know if they could tell what this is.  Please help.  I'm really scared now.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

You really don't have anything to be scared about.  The pictures show a picked scab, that's all.  If you see a doctor tomorrow, they won't even be able to tell you for sure, because of the trauma.  You really should wait 2 weeks, so they can tell.  Meantime, please don't drive yourself crazy; the circumstances don't warrant it.

Dr. Rockoff